Australia now wants to ban Internet porn

But the women over there are all butt-ugly ... its the big nose that undoes it for me.

Plus the place is full of dole-bludgers, there is no work, and they have a funny accent.

Nice tomato sauce (Watties) and superior Colby Cheese (best in the world) are just not enough to lure us Aussies over.

Sorry ... that's the consensus here.

Plus they still havn't forgiven us for the "underarm bowling incident" at that famous test match ... for which I humbly apologise for again ...

They don't want us either.

Most of the Kiwis who are employed work in Australia and send money home ... thats how New Zealand survives.

They can't make it on their own.

We just go there for cheap holidays.

Plus what kind of country has a woman running it ... ?? 

Didn't work well for the UK either.


There was once a time were I was proud to be Australian...that time seems to be disappearing into the past rapidly...and to think if I could of been bothered voting...I would of voted Labor, mainly for the promise of faster internet...I am ashamed!

Sorry world, its true.

Australia has been overtaken by tree hugging hippies who want to remove any token of pleasure.

All these things are being (or are in the process of being) limited:
Alcohol, internet porn, illegal downloads, internet casinos, tobacco, speeding, drinking alcohol to excess, R 18+ computer games, carbon emissions....

Australia is becoming a nanny state, with myriad wishlists being concocted by the Green Party which holds the balance of power in parliament.

In the coming years Australia will become the cardigan country, while our politicians convince us that everything is double plus good.



Look if they really want to control the populous they need to block outside news sites. I can't believe they haven't gotten to that.

Wonder if we could get them to block apple ans windows too?


When will they understand (and I mean anyone with power) that restricting things doesn't stop them and only creates more problems, by making people "find other ways". It's alot better and easier to allow something but keep it under a watchful eye than to restrict it and try to enforce it.

What I really mean is, when you can't beat them, join them, if you join them, you can have the power to control the situation. Now, this is porn we're talking about, so it's a bit different, I don't mean that the government should start making porn films, but maybe they should get involved some how, or simply let it be.

It's like, prostitution is illigal (here), but it doesn't stop it at all, all you get is undercover prostitution, which promotes heavy drug use, crime and STD's to spread. But allow it to go on under goverment control, and you can keep it much cleaner and safer.

Now I'm not for one thing or the other, but all I mean is, restriction usually creates "more" crime and dirty work, but if you allow it under your terms and keep an eye out, you actually get a better result.

Making something illegal will only open up a new way for criminals to make money. Now, in no way am I saying that this is the case for everything, just in the case of porn at least, because they won't stop it, it'll still be there, all the government will do is promote underground pornshops.

With all that said, the "parents" that are worried about their children seeing porn on the internet are just bad parents to begin with. Instead of teaching their children and informing them of what "right and wrong" is in a society, let's just block all the "bad" stuff out and pretend everything is perfect.

If you have a good relationship with your children they will look up to you and do as you advise them. Sure, some kids will still not listen, but those are the same kids that are going to find a way to get to the "porn" anyway, no matter what you do. But wait, I forgot, you'd just rather blame someone else for his/her behavior right? It's not his/her fault, it's the PORN!

Wait a minute, they're right!

My son Timmy raped my cat because he watched too much porn I had access to on my computer, it's not my fault for not restricting access, it's the porn's fault for being there in the first place! But I guess my cat Fluffy doesn't have trouble pooping anymore after the "incident", he was always constipated before, so that's good I guess. Shortly after Fluffy found a new, big appetite for food, I guess because he can poop and make room for more. Because Fluffy eats so much now, he's put on alot of weight and got really lazy. He's no fun to play with anymore.

Porn made my son "take advantage" of my cat, which fixed my cat's bowel problems, which in turn made him eat more often, which made him fat and no fun to play with.

Porn made my cat fat and no fun at all! Porn ruined my cat!

The only reason this is happening is the centre-left government has a minority in the upper house. They need the support of left leaning greens an independent and a right wing religious nutter. Family First Senator Steve Fielding, descendant of Assemblies of God church.

Basically the government is just going through the motions to appease the wackjob since everyone knows that if you sensor the web it wont work and will slow it all down.

Have these people not looked at history? Prohibition really reduced the amount of alcohol consumed in the states and reduced the amount of money the crime syndicates made. If you didn't recognise it that comment was dripping with sarcasm.

Before H Lokky wandered off about his poor cat he/she made a some good points. Regulating something and maintaining some form of control removes the ability of criminals to make money by controlling this and similar products.

It also allows the govt to tax and gain revenues rather than spending massive amounts of money trying to stop people doing what they are going to anyway.

If these parents are worried their children will be exposed to porn, then they should spend a little more time monitoring what they look at and educating them about what is right and wrong. That is how it works for my sister's children both at home and at school, and it is how my children will be brought up. 

Pretending something doesn't exist does not stop it existing. It never worked for my poor old dog hiding under the toilet seat with her paws over her ears during thunderstorm or fireworks displays.

Why is that vocal minorities are able to determine what the majority can or cannot do? It is far easier to consult and draw up sensible legislation in the first place than it is to remove stupid knee-jerk reaction legislation after the fact.

This won't affect me, becuase I run an online radio station in Australia, and have my servers in the USA. All I will have to do is use my VPN server to circumvent the filters. 

VPN is going to be the "Achiiles heel" of any filter regime becuase governments dont DARE outlaw it, becuase businesses use it for secure remote connections to their networks. Cut off VPN and you cut off a lot of business activity..

VPN is encrypted and cannot possibly be eavesdropped upon

"There was once a time were I was proud to be Australian...that time seems to be disappearing into the past rapidly...and to think if I could of been bothered voting...I would of voted Labor, mainly for the promise of faster internet...I am ashamed!"

You do realise the current government is Labor right?

Anyway this is pretty messed up. Surprisingly I have heard nothing from the mainstream media on this, just the internet news sites. Ironic huh? Probably get blocked soon...

I hope it goes through!
At least we will then see how it really affect things. Now everything is just speculations. For better or worse or no difference on anything at all: go aussies, Go !

Lokky H I think you should be refering to religious, conservative parties, not hippies trying to ban pr0nz. 

Family first is the nanny party of Australia not the Greens (they're the socialists - ie they dont want to degrade our rights)

And yes I think it is ABSURD!!!! I feel that I have a right to look at my pr0n, if some parent doesn't want their kid to look at pr0n, monitor them! The government is not in charge of how you bring up your kids.

@ Lokky H: Australia has been a nanny state for a long time, it's not the new coalition. In fact Howard was far more of a censorship nut. He seemed to take great pleasure in erroding civil rights. And I don't see what the Greens and 'tree hugging' has to do with net censorship. Armchair politics aside, the government will never outlaw online porn and never be able to enforce it anyway. Proxy server anyone?

This is quite exceptional, really it is. Imagine 25 years in the future...Australia will be the world village. When tourists from Australia will see people drive over the limit, drink or watch porn they might suffer a cardiac arrest.

People with mp3s will be shot in the street if they have not paid licensing fees.
Foreigners will have their data storage items scanned for porn & be stoned to death in a public stadium, should they be found guilty of having porn.
In turn, this will create underground movements. These radical movement will peddle porn, & speed camera cloaking equipment. Some may even sell home alcohol distilling kits.
Over time the rift between the government and the people will grow. The eco-friendly dictatorship will increasingly require to use harsh language & ad campaigns to maintain low carbon emissions. This will lead to an eventual collapse of the regime...

OR

All these laws will be passed & no one is going to give a toss.

"Lokky" might want to take a remedial politics refresher- the govt of australia is terminally right-wing, whatever the opposite of a tree-hugging hippy is.. Tree, slapping.. errr... hoppy? I dunno, right-wing authoritarian loons anyhoo. The country is a little adolescent in some respects right now- the ultra-stupid govt being the most notable symptom of that.

Everything else aside... yeah, sucks.

@ Canadian

You had me there, I was thinking this is a sensible comment, he's got some good points and I totally agree.

Then ... the sex with the cat thing?
What was that about? How to lose cred in 3 easy paragraphs.

Dude you have issues.

It's a downhill slide into socialism! We have our own problems with socialist/marxists in the USA. Obama comes to mind along with all his liberal hacks in the tree hugging Democrat/ Socialist party.
Headline on drudgereport.com
"2001 OBAMA: TRAGEDY THAT 'REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH' NOT PURSUED BY SUPREME COURT"
If thats not a marxist I don't know what is.


I don't see any problem with blocking porn. Personally I utilize Freeware Blue Coat K9 web protection (www.k9webprotection.com).
Why? Because I am a parent and it horrifies me to see how other people's children wind up being abused.

The problem arises from defiance of basic common sense by "religious" people. For example: Christianity, which is a doomsday cult whose adherents think the "rapture" is imminent and furthermore they figure that all they have to do is chant "I believe in Jesus Christ!" and all their crimes are instantly forgiven. Christians are the worst chriminals in the world. Well, any non-atheist for that matter.

BECAUSE Christians and their ilk have this concept of "automatic forgiveness" they commit the most heinous crimes you can imagine.
What we really need, to keep these religious creeps under control, is some basic laws. A truth that is sad, but nonetheless true.

(Another really dangerous idea is SHARIA law which says there are no laws, only religious belief, which in turn permits you to be as lawless as you want to be because you have to answer to god, which doesn't actually exist and we all know it. Do the world a favor and SAY NO to Sharia Law).

The filter is not limited to pornography. Interestingly the scope should include the following from the national classification code:

Publications and Films that promote, incite or instruct in matters of crime or violence.

Now from the criminal code: 

80.2 Sedition
Urging the overthrow of the Constitution or Government
(1) A person commits an offence if the person urges another person to
overthrow by force or violence:
(a) the Constitution; or
(b) the Government of the Commonwealth, a State or a
Territory; or
(c) the lawful authority of the Government of the
Commonwealth.

For example, it appears that the filter will censor a website containing for example the opinion that Australian soldiers involved in the invasion of Iraq are a legitimate target for an Iraqi resistance organisation involved in armed hostilities.

I think not! Australia, ironically, is becoming more and more like a prison for its citizens rather than behaving like a normal western democracy. What would stop a future aussie totalitarian government from using these powers to block politically sensitive information or to limit the freedom of speech of its citizens?

Nice beaches though....

While it's sad that Australia is being pushed into a dictator ship faster than the U.S. It does provide some opportunity. I will start shipping p0rn to Australia! 
So long as I never go there I won't be a criminal. I'll download for free what you can't get and sell it at a very high price. Of course once the perverts in government get caught with it, the laws will start to collapse and I'll be out of business, but for about a year I'll be swimming in xxx money mailing memory sticks to you! 
Thanks!

You said "...armed rebellion..."
Have you forgotten that they've banned most guns too?

The problem is prohibition creates a economy of scarcity with a glut of demand - which is extremely profitable for criminals`\ $_$ /` and very. Exactly the reverse of a legalised and deregulated industry (ie unprofitable for everybody and perpetually on the verge of recession).
At the moment legitimate porn is paying it's tax contribution ... illict trade in anything, doesn't pay tax, and infact leeches money from the real economy.
Way to go Australia. Also I think many reptiles will be offended with the implication that they are as dangerous as Australians and as for the comment up top about New Zealand, they say, when a NZer migrates to Australia that the total IQ of both countries goes up.

What punishment will the Australian government come up with for anyone who tries to circumvent the filters?
Transport them to the UK?

On one hand they're trying to encourage Ausies to have more kids, on the other, grown adults shouldn't look at anything sexual.
Wait! I see a business opportunity here. Family Porn! The Ausie government wants to promote family values which presumably includes lots of sex, as that's generally necesary if you want to make kids. Only problem is most of the porn out there is random promiscuous couples or groups, but somehow there's almost a myth that happily married couples don't have wild and satisfying sex.
For goodness sake! Even God was happy to let Adam and Eve run around naked in the Garden of Eden, and he did tell them to go forth and multiply, which I doubt happened by going around holding hands.
Actually, according to a dictionary I looked at, the word pornography derives from porne which was greek for prostitute, and -graphy, so literally images of prostitutes, so if you have a married couple having a wild romp in front of the camera, technically it's not porn.

All the "English" governments are cock-ups. Whoever heard of on-trade sales down in Britain? No wonder there is a global credit crunch. Kill the nannies and get us a king. God save the pubs!

People vs Larry Flint 

same s*** different medium

Blackmarket Porn proxy anyone?

In Australia we like many countries have rising prices, unemployment, pollution and other REAL PROBLEMS that the government does not want to have to deal with (i.e. work!).
At times like this they usualy drag out the Republic debate, the flag or this rubbish rather than do their job.
Sound familiar?

Great... First badly configured ISP torrent bandwidth limiters that kill my ping for gaming, now another layer of technical incompetence. Gonna kiss my online gaming days good bye.

Wow, you have kids, you employ filtering.
Why doesn't every parent worried about their children do the same instead of being lazy sods and demanding the government do something that changes things for everyone?

You want to protect your kids, be a good parent, educate them, and actually look out for them.
Don't let them use a PC without some supervision, don't get them a phone plan that allows internet access, and don't put the responsibility on the government to do it all for you, because some whackjob with an agenda (religious, political, moral) will come along and ruin things for everyone else.

It won't happen. Ever.

When you see a group of aussies go into the jungle and rape some Kangarooes and Koala because they are sexually frustrated then and only then they'll create bloody world war 3.

Now from the religious side of things, well, it can't be all bad. Of course, you have got to study what VERSION of the bible you are reading. And don't listen to the pedophiles priests (fathers) cos they're full of sh*t.

Lets be realistic, how can one man forgive another man?!

It's mental to think even jesus was only a man - a special man - but born from a women... these morons will never see it though.

Jesus always referred to GOD as his "father in heaven"...... Damn he confused those stupid jews using those words. Why couldn't he have seen it comming and used some other abbreviations then maybe these retards would have been easy on him.

His other famous statement, while he was on the cross was; "GOD, GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME"

So it's perfectly clear to people with knowledge, don't be ignorant compare the old books and leave the porn alone cos he (Jesus) said just looking upon the face of a women is as though you have commited adultery.... that means the Jews and Christians will want to stone you to death........... damn, that means nearly 99% of the worlds people.

O.K, i'd like to see the jews try it on 8 billion people. I still think bloody hitler will rise again should that take place! ha, ha, ha...

Jon

Curses! I thought this article was going to be about banning Englishmen from the interweb. 

Damn that keming!

I wish parents would try harder to realize that "children" is merely a word for adults in the process of growing up. Protecting them from all the unseen and imagined dangers of the world inhibits that process. 

Western society has such a screwed up concept of the sacredness of childhood these days... it really opens the door for horrible abuse by fearmongers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdVHZwI8pcA


He also wouldn't shut up about God's Plan and crap like that.

Stop me if any of this sounds familiar.

Yes its is becoming Orwellian down here at an alarming rate, What the hell did one of my ancestors die for in Gallipoli.
It seems our freedoms get eroded away with each passing year just to please the do gooders/religious and other organisations, Everything gets passed as a "Protect the kids" law so it doesn't get opposed. Are these people Stupid or what, Soon we will need a permit just to have sex with your own wife/husband!
Freedom of speech? Not for much longer
These dipshits will have to do better than that, I imported an R18 game cause we cant buy them here uncensored even though I am 35years old,And I also imported a few adult blurays no problem at all, what next they will open every parcel that comes into Australia?
Its time we bought back a common sense law that applies to every country,YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN ACTIONS,not some government.
These idiots that trip over and try and sue people are the ones that started all this bullshit many years ago and now society is becoming haywire!

Australia- the Wide Brown Land, people with funny accents and funny ideas.

Why do they keep apologising about that underarm incident ....?

Funny but true- most Aussies that emigrate do actually migrate to New Zealand, with Britain taking the second largest group.

Sure block all porn and while you're at it, let's block all violence too. And religion, because that only LEADS to violence.
And video clips showing people kissing each other on the cheek should be banned too, because that's foreplay isn't it?
And shouldn't softcore porn, ie music videos be banned as well?

The internet without porn is like 




... exactly. Tumbleweed-in-the-desert time.
Mind you it's peaceful though.

It is an interesting idea, I wonder if it will really go through, and if it does, how long it will last.

I know that something like that wouldn't last a month in the US, though it would have to be miraculously passed first. For two reasons, 1) it seems (in my experiences) that many government officials take place is viewing the stuff themselves, and 2) look what happened with prohibition.

after reading the comments, I have one more:

Governments take away peoples rights, commit genocide, start wars, we should ban governments!

Well we pay enough through the nose as it is for a crappy connection. This will make it slower and less fun. On the bright side there will be a lot more cashed up Aussies next year with an extra 90 dollars a month or more in their pocket thanks to the cancellation of thier net accounts. More money for our binge drinking experiments.

I foolishly voted for labor pretty much solely cause of their pro internet infrastructure plans. Boy is the egg on my face. My labor voting days are well and truly over.

I think the real agenda of the Labor government and Conroy specifically is about control - the nanny state is really functional in Australia. Our society is becoming more and more beaurocratic, repressive, regulated and emasculated. Take the opressive driving regime for example. The control of the internet is just the latest example of highly paid public servants using their authority to restrict our freedoms more and more. Although child pornography is appalling, I think the hysteria whipped up around it masks the bigger agenda, which is social engineering and control, which, in my opinion is an even greater threat.

Mate I'm an Australian and any one of you who may bag out my Country for making this decision I totally agree with! What absolute rubbish. What harm does the porn industry do - if it is used properly? Child porn - sure work of Satan but just a couple getting it on, titty fucking,foot fucking - absolutely bring it on! Men need fantasy to relieve themselves. Go on Aussie Government take it away..and watch Rape statistics and other hazards climb! The pack trying to bring this in are a bunch of WANKERS! Packed the bags my Mrs and I are off to New Zealand - Uru!

Why do people want to stop their kids seeing it anyway? It furthers the child's anatomical knowledge, it furthers their understanding of relationships and people's behavious in general, it helps the child relieve stress caused by the hormones they are producing during puberty. It helps your child become an open minded individual - I cant see any detriment from the child's perspective , so who is it these people care about- their child, or their own insecurities.

I agree whole heartly with the man as we had censorship back in the 60/70's and it never hurt us any. you couldn't swear or show sexual content of any kind for the most part. I truly beleive that if we had continued to have that type of censorship today there wouldn't be near as many underage pregnancies or std's and sexual depravities.

this is just wrong. I guess that's what happens when you get isolated on a far-away island for a long time... :P

If there is anything that will kill "Al Qaida", it is Pron! If only our Government had insight.